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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Writing is like this, installment # 5748

Here's another metaphor for what writing is like. Take the wonderful opening scene (sorry, I can't embed the video) from Love Actually (a movie about which, if you say bad things, I will fight you -- that's no lie). Billy Mack, our drugged out singer, is recording a cover version of a classic oldie but with the lyrics 'repurposed' for Christmastime. OK? So he's recording, and it takes several takes because he keeps getting it wrong. He gets more and more frustrated with himself, culminating in one of the best self-directed bits of profanity in movie history.

But then, he buckles down, dials in, and he nails it. And he knows it, he knows he's nailed it, so he keeps going, getting into the moment. And he's really creating something now! He's got it!

And then, the realization hits him, and at the 1:54 mark in the video, he says to his producer, "This is shit, isn't it?"

Even when it's going great, you're never far from the conviction that you're still producing tripe and treacle. You're never far from stopping typing, staring at the screen, and saying, "This is shit, isn't it?"

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Quotables

"Make your country...into a land that understands more than only war and righteous piety. Allow space in your lives for more than battle chants to inspire soldiers. Teach your people to...understand a garden, the reason for a fountain, music."

-Guy Gavriel Kay,The Lions of Al-Rassan

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any creative art. The water is free. So drink.Drink and be filled up.

Stephen King,On Writing

We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.